POPE Benedict XVI has announced the immediate opening of Pope John Paul II’s cause for sainthood, setting aside the five-year waiting period called for by Church law.
Pope Benedict made the announcement on May 13 at the end of a speech to the priests of the Diocese of Rome gathered for a meeting and a dialogue with him at the Basilica of St John Lateran.
Finishing his prepared speech to the priests, the Pope said he had a “joyful announcement” to make before he listened to the priests’ comments and questions.
He then read, in Latin, a letter from prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, to papal vicar of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini.
The letter said that at an April 28 audience, Pope Benedict, “considering the special circumstances that were explained”, had decided “to dispense from the five-year period of waiting after the death of the servant of God, Pope John Paul II …”
Pope Benedict had to wait several minutes to finish the sentence — saying he was authorising the immediate opening of the “cause for beatification and canonisation” — because the priests broke into a loud and sustained standing ovation.
Although the process for considering the holiness of Pope John Paul was to begin immediately, it was not expected to conclude quickly.
Pope Benedict’s decision to waive the five-year waiting period before John Paul II’s sainthood cause could begin was an “exceptional, extraordinary” move because the late pope was extraordinary, said Cardinal Saraiva Martins.
In Krakow, Poland, Cardinal Franciszek Macharski told KAI, Poland’s Catholic information agency, that the archdiocese would help collect testimonials about the late pope’s life but would “fulfil all requirements” just like any other sainthood cause.
CNS
